Developments
by Macavity the Mystery Cat
Summary: Set after the events of Rozen Maiden Traumend, Tomoe walks home from school, and considers both recent events and their consequences...


Developments – A Rozen Maiden Fanfiction

Disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden and I do not intend to profit from this story in any fashion.

Author Note: This one-shot takes place after the events of Rozen Maiden Traumend.

There was something strange about Jun Sakurada, thought Tomoe Kashiwaba, as she firmly closed the library door leaving the boy to his studying, and stepping out into the school hallway. He had…changed, she supposed. Whatever had happened over the last few weeks had done something to change him and all of the residents of the Sakurada household, both human and doll. Something momentous had occurred, that was more than obvious, but all those who were involved had kept their mouths shut.

It had started with…with Hinaichigo's death, she supposed, suppressing the tide of grief that rose with that thought. The rules of the game had changed, or time had run out; whatever it was, something had set the ball to rolling. Tomoe knew she'd been too consumed by her own grief to adequately pay attention to outside events, but she couldn't help but go with her gut on that one. Hinaichigo's death had spurred on Shinku, who had spurred on everyone else.

Tomoe allowed her feet to guide her out of the school, and towards her home. It was a path she had walked many times, so she often let herself drift into thought and let her feet take her home. Recently, however, if she wasn't paying attention, she would often find herself walking to the one store, which always sold Hinaichigo's favorite strawberry daifuku, or even towards the Sakurada residence. To her great embarrassment, she often walked to their house and knock on the door without even realizing where she was. The dolls, Nori, and…Jun, when he was home welcomed her, of course, but she didn't quite know why it was such an automatic action, especially with Hinaichigo's…death.

Perhaps she was worried about the trio's strange behavior that kept her wandering to their door. Ever since the incident, the three hadn't been the same, though on the surface it seemed as if few things had changed. Nori knew that something had happened, but she didn't have the slightest clue what to do about it. The two girls had met several times away from the house (and thus away from the dolls, even if it wasn't guaranteed to be away from Jun these days), to worriedly speculate on the cause and the nature of the trio's change. They had both come out of those meetings both more worried and relieved. After all, it didn't seem as if the change was a terrible one.

In fact, all three of them had seemed…happier. Or maybe it was that they had become more driven or determined. Admittedly, there was also a great air of melancholy over them, especially when Souseiseki was mentioned, but Jun, Shinku, and Suiseiseki by and large moved with greater purpose, smiled, and laughed more than they had before the whole incident occurred, especially when they were together. Whatever hardship they had experienced had bound them together, tighter than ever before. They…supported each other, now, Tomoe supposed.

If Tomoe was honest with herself, she was more than a little bit jealous. She had felt so listless and useless once Hinaichigo had been forced to break their contract, and though it had improved with time, it had returned to hit her like a sledgehammer again when the doll had…died. She had felt disconnected from the world, her school friends, and her after-school activities. It wasn't that she could explain her problems to her parents, either. They wouldn't understand, not about the dolls, and certainly not about the connection between her and Hinaichigo. She envied the three of them for being able to talk with each other about things, and help each other through the grief of losing such important family member.

If Tomoe was really honest with herself, she'd also admit that she was jealous of the time the dolls were spending with Jun. But she was rarely that honest, even with herself.

Tomoe realized that her feet had finally come to a complete stop, and that for the second time this week, she stood not in front of her house, but in front of the store that sold Hinaichigo's favorite sweets. Her heart clenched, as she cursed herself for not paying more attention to where she was going. Her wayward feet had betrayed her once again. How would she get her parents to understand what was going on, when even her feet refused to?

Staring at the store's door for a few tense moments, Tomoe was almost horrified when her hand began to move almost of its own volition to open the door. What was she doing? Going inside would only bring back more memories. Still…what could it hurt, a small voice inside of her spoke up. It wasn't as if there were many bad memories attached to the place, was there? In fact, nearly all of them should be happy. Anyway, it had been a long time since she'd had the store's strawberry daifuku. She was just as fond of them as Hinaichigo had been. After all, Tomoe had introduced the sweet to the doll.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Tomoe slowly reached for the handle, then just as slowly opened the door, and then, after a moments pause, finally stepped inside. The pain that assaulted her was even worse than she imagined. The smell of the place and the familiar surroundings were more than enough to make her cringe inside, and almost visibly as well. She held herself together, though, and somehow managed a smile for the old lady behind the counter, who was giving her a worried look.

"It's been a while since you last came in, dearie," the woman said, returning the smile, but still looking worried.

Tomoe did her best to avoid the woman's eyes and scanned the shelves and the display cases of the small shop. She had snuck Hinaichigo into the store once, and the doll had barely managed to keep hidden, so great was her excitement and curiosity. She had loved the little shop almost as much as the sweets Tomoe bought for her there. It had been the smell, and the homely feeling that only a hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pop bakery could provide. "…There was a death in the family, and I didn't feel like sweets for a while, ma'am." It was stretching the truth, but it was still the truth.

The old woman nodded in sudden understanding, and offered Tomoe a faint smile. "It was the same for me when my husband died. Could barely stand to make the things, and I certainly couldn't eat them," the old lady paused, and then her smile brightened, "Then one day, I remembered why he loved making them so much, and I've enjoyed them ever since." The old lady laughed and patted her stomach.

Tomoe tried not to feel anything from that remark, but a part of her couldn't help but smile. The tide of memories receded a little, and she felt a little of the stiffness that had descended upon her drain out. After all, Hinaichigo had enjoyed the sweets. Looking around, she tried to see if any of the strawberry daifuku were left. She'd buy some, and enjoy them with her family after dinner tonight. It had been a while since they'd all enjoyed something like that together.

Disappointingly, it seemed as if the store had sold out of that particular sweet. That was a notable event in itself, for every other time she had come to the store, there had always been plenty. With her target missing, Tomoe cast about the rest of the store for a suitable substitute. There were others things on the store's shelves that Hinaichigo had liked, but nothing that was nearly as precious as the strawberry daifuku. She didn't know why she felt the need to buy something that the doll had liked, but it seemed fitting to do so on her first visit back to the store.

She turned to the old lady to ask about the sweets, and was surprised to see a carton sitting in front of the register with her name on it. The old lady was smiling. "I've been saving a box for you every day. Just in case, you know."

Tomoe was touched, despite herself, and a small real smile fought its way onto her face, and she bowed deeply in thanks. It was a small gesture, but Tomoe found herself holding back tears. She supposed that maybe the food had more meaning to her than she had thought. Or maybe it was something else She paid the smiling woman, and with a final bow at the door, stepped out of the shop and back onto the road. She promised herself she'd make an effort to come by the store more often.

She set off down the road again, making sure to point her feet firmly in the direction of her own house. Even if Sakurada's house was closer, there was no reason to stop by there today, or really at all. He was probably still studying at the school, anyway. And the dolls would be busy, too, of course. Even since the incident, whatever it was, it seemed that Jun's dolls were always were busy. Except when they were bothering Jun, of course, though he had recently shown remarkable maturity in dealing with their antics. Especially Suiseiseki's, but Tomoe thought she knew the reason for that.

The reason of course had been the 'death' of the doll's twin sister, Souseiseki. When or how the doll had died was still a mystery to Tomoe, but it had clearly been after Hinaichigo's death and before the incident. Or maybe her death had been part of the incident. She wasn't quite sure. And it was fairly obvious that her death had been a violent one. Or at least nowhere near as peaceful a passing as Hinaichigo's had been. Tomoe was almost willing to bet that it had something to do with the Alice Game. Though, that wasn't a terribly hard leap to make. With the Rozen Maidens, everything was connected to the Alice Game in one way or another.

Suiseiseki had been and was still deeply grieving over the death of her sister, which occasionally made Tomoe feel ashamed. If a doll could handle her grief in such a brave manner, why couldn't a human? Suiseiseki was up and about smiling, laughing, and doing her best to move on afterwards, while Tomoe was still doing her best just to function, though she hid it well from the others. She wondered if it had something to do with Jun and Shinku. The doll had taken quite a liking to Jun, after all, and he to her, despite all the pranks played by the former and the yelling and complaining done by the latter. And of course, though Shinku was not a replacement for the calm and stoic Souseisek, she did share a sisterly bond with Suiseiseki.

Tomoe had always wistfully wished for a little brother or sister, though she had kept that wish secret from her parents, who had told her from a very young age, that she was the only child they had ever wanted. She supposed that that was supposed to be a compliment of some kind, but it would have been nice to share the burden of her parent's expectations, as well as to have someone close to confide in. She supposed that Hinaichigo had, for a time, acted the part for her dream. She often wondered what would have happened if she had introduced the doll to her parents. Would they have been as accepting as Nori had been of Jun's dolls? Could they maybe have prevented Hinaichigo from…well, almost killing her?

Tomoe shook her head to clear her mind of those dangerous questions. Whatever their answers were, it still didn't change the fact that Souseiseki had likely died in some sort of fight in the Alice Game. It obviously hadn't been the big final showdown; she was fairly certain that even she would have known about that. Also, the simple fact that there was more than one doll still around proved that idea wrong. The Alice game was only supposed to end when only one doll remained standing Maybe someone had tried to force it, to provoke the other dolls into the final battle? That certainly would explain a number of things, but Tomoe wasn't entirely sure if that was the answer. She'd given up asking Jun about it; every time, he would just stand there with a strange look on his face and then change the subject.

It was getting almost to the point that she didn't even care about what had actually happened. Maybe instead of agonizing over what had happened, she should instead just look at the consequences. Those were terribly simple, at least on the surface. Jun and his dolls had changed, and she bet that the remaining dolls and Mediums had as well. The changes that Tomoe had noticed were, in most cases, positive.

Before whatever had happened, Jun had been preparing to return to school, doing almost all of the work himself. It seemed as if he were trying to single handedly correct his mistake for the past year. After the incident, he had almost literally thrown himself into studying, still largely doing most of the work himself, but also scheduling tutoring meetings with teachers after school hours, and, though it made Tomoe strangely shy and happy to admit it, had taken to inviting her over to help him through certain sections he could not figure out himself. In addition, she had occasionally seen him out running in the morning while she was walking to school, something even the Jun that Tomoe had met all those years ago, would have never done. Jun Sakurada had become a driven man, a man with a goal, who needed, for some reason, to become the best he could possibly be.

Shinku was herself, as always, both demanding and instructive, aloof and compassionate, but even she seemed to have found a balance. Part of it was simply experience, Tomoe believed. She knew what Jun would and would not do, and how much he would let her get away with Nori, which was, these days, admittedly a great deal. Though even that had let up. Tomoe had been entirely surprised last week when she had visited and had found Shinku helping with the household chores. She had seen the doll cook several times before, usually when challenged by Suiseiseki (who was a very good cook, though certainly not at the level of Nori, or even herself), but it had been terribly surprising to see her on her hands in knees, dressed in what had probably once been one of Jun's old t-shirts, scrubbing the floor. And she had seemed to enjoy it, despite the teasing from Suiseiseki, and the almost horrified looks from Nori. The most mature doll of them all, had become yet more so.

Tomoe was of the opinion, however, that it was Suiseiseki who had changed the most, though she was unsure if anyone other than Jun and perhaps Nori would agree with her. For all intents and purposes, she appeared nearly unchanged, except for, of course, when her twin was mentioned. But the doll had been sticking to Jun like a bee to honey, which strangely often made Tomoe a bit jealous. The garden the doll had planted however was looking like it would turn into something magnificent one day, though it was painfully obvious that she thought of her twin whenever she tended it. And while her pranks had certainly not stopped, their ability to accidentally hurt the victim had become markedly reduced. And while she still saved her most elaborate pranks for Jun, she'd taken to occasionally prank Shinku, Nori, and even on one notable occasion, Tomoe herself. That one had been remarkably mean spirited, even for Suiseiseki. The doll seemed to see her as some sort of rival, though for what, Tomoe couldn't bring herself to imagine. Death of close love one changed people in both large and small ways, Tomoe knew that intimately.

Tomoe realized with a start that for some reason her hands seemed to be moving, and once again quickly roused herself from her thoughts. She was unsurprised, though certainly not happy to find herself standing on the doorstep of the Sakurada household. That marked the third time this week that she had inadvertently found her way here though fortunately it was the first for hitting both the store and the Sakurada house. At least she had stopped her hand from knocking this time. She'd be able to leave with minimal embarrassment, assuming that she hadn't been spotted by one of the residents already. She'd go home, finish what remained of her homework, and then maybe do some studying for the upcoming entrance exams. That's right. That was her original plan for the afternoon, anyway.

She turned to leave, fully intent on heading home to study. However, for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to take the first step. It wasn't her legs disobeying her this time; it was simply that she didn't want to leave. Behind that door were people who understood what she was going through and what she had lost. Behind was warmth, friendship, and people she thought might care about her. That was more than she thought she received at home, especially these days. Which, she quietly admitted to herself, was the reason she continued to find herself standing on the Sakurada's porch at strange intervals during the week.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She couldn't burden them all the time with her troubles. She was glad for their support, but she had to stand on her own two feet at some point. She wasn't weak after all; she was entirely capable of working through this herself. Maybe she'd be able to face them on even terms again someday, but for now she would go her own way, and Jun woul-

"Tomoe, what are you doing here? I thought you were heading home?" Said Jun Sakurada, as he turned into his yard from the road.

For a moment, Tomoe couldn't move, and then with a very uncharacteristic squeak, she jumped backward and blushed. "Well, I…You see… I was-"

Jun just nodded and smiled and appeared slightly distracted, "Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad you're here. There were some problems I wasn't quite sure about, and I was hoping to ask you about. I was going to call you later about them. You should have told me you were planning on coming over, I would have walked back with you," he laughed, "Most days I'd give just about anything to get out of the library early."

Tomoe nodded silently, and watched Jun walk up to his door. Of course luck was against her today, "Well, actually, I was just about to lea-"

The door swung open before Jun even touched the key to the lock, and a short green blur slammed into him and knocked him to the ground, wailing in high-pitched tone, "Jun! Shinku locked me out of our room again!" Tomoe twitched at the word 'our', "I left my kitchen apron there after you fixed it last night. But it's my turn to help Nori out with dinner, and Shinku says she's working and can't be disturbed. Go tell her to-" Souseiseki raised her head, likely to scream futilely at Shinku, but caught sight of Tomoe instead. "Oh, Tomoe! I'm glad you're here! Me and Nori are working on a new scone recipe! We want your input! And you brought daifuku! They should go well with them!"

Tomoe gave the doll a numb nod and with that, the doll climbed off of Jun, and bolted back into the house and up the stairs, yelling and screaming at the top of her lungs at Shinku. Tomoe cautiously turned to Jun, who was lying on the doorstep with a slightly bemused look on his face. "You okay, Sakurada?"

He shook himself, climbed to his feet, and then laughed. "Just another day at my house, it seems, Tomoe. If I'm not indestructible yet, I'm well on my way," he suddenly increased the volume of his voice to a yell, "Thanks to these bloody dolls!" At which point, the audible arguing from inside the house died for a second, and then returned, louder than ever. Jun sighed, and then shrugged, "I don't know why I put up with those dolls."

Tomoe knew why he did, though. The dolls were part of his family. He cared for them more than perhaps anything in the world, even if he would rather not admit it. She was fairly certain, that he had come fairly close to dying for them as well, just like her. They were so incredibly alike, but she was jealous. He got to keep his family, while she was deprived of the one that had made her life seem so…full. He always had company, while she was always alo-

"You coming in, Tomoe? I can't sit here and let the air conditioning out all day, Nori would kill me." Said Sakurada with a laugh from inside the house.

Tomoe almost sighed. She didn't know what it was. Whenever Jun was around, he'd never let her feel sorry for herself, at least not for too long. He didn't even seem to think about it or realize what he was doing. She just supposed he was just strange like that. She hadn't asked him to watch out for her like that. Jun was just Jun.

"Alright, I'm coming in." And as she stepped into the rolling, warm chaos that was the Sakurada house, she couldn't help but smile.

* * *

Gah, this is the piece that I've been working on since school got out. I've had Rozen Maiden plots running around in my head for just about ever, and this was pretty much a way of trying to at least get some of them out of my head. It has largely succeeded, for good or for worse. o.O

This piece is largely meant to be a nice look at Tomoe after the event of Traumend. She's probably my favorite character from Rozen, and I think she often gets ignored. So this is a little tribute to her. It was hard to write. --;;;; I had to rewatch a good bit of Traumend to make sure that figure out which events she would have known about, and which she'd be completely clueless about. Not quite sure if I managed it or not, but its my best try.

As always, I'm pretty busy, so my next piece may be a while. I promise I'm working on all my stories! It just takes a long while. --;;;;


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